Chapter I: Introduction

For the information of those readers who have not followed Betty Wales through the first three years of her college career, as described in "Betty Wales, Freshman," "Betty Wales, Sophomore," and "Betty Wales, Junior," it should be explained that most of Betty's little circle began to be friends in their freshman year, when they lived off the campus at Mrs. Chapin's, and Mary Brooks, the only sophomore in the house, ruled them with an autocratic hand. Betty found Helen Adams a comical and sometimes a trying roommate. Rachel Morrison and Katherine Kittredge were also at Mrs. Chapin's, and Roberta Lewis, who adored Mary Brooks and was desperately afraid of every one else in the house, though Betty Wales guessed that shyness was at the bottom of Roberta's haughty manner. Eleanor Watson was the most prominent member of the group that year and part of the next. Betty admired her greatly but found her a very difficult person to win as a friend, though in the end she proved worthy of all the trouble she had cost.

At the beginning of sophomore year the Chapin House girls moved to the campus, and "the B's" and Madeline Ayres, who explained that she lived in "Bohemia, New York," joined the circle. In their junior year Betty and her friends organized the "Merry Hearts" society, and Georgia Ames, a freshman friend of Madeline's, amused and mystified the whole college until she was finally discovered to be merely one of Madeline's many delightful inventions. But the joke was on the "Merry Hearts" when a real Georgia Ames entered college. It was when they were juniors, too, that the "Merry Hearts" took a vacation trip to the Bahamas and incidentally manoeuvred a romance for two of their faculty friends--which caused Mary Brooks to rename their society the Merry Match-makers.

And now if any one wishes to know what Betty Wales and her friends did after they left college, well--there's something about it in "Betty Wales, B.A.," "Betty Wales & Co.," "Betty Wales on the Campus," and "Betty Wales Decides."

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I "BACK TO COLLEGE AGAIN" 9
II A SENIOR CLASS-MEETING 25
III THE BELDEN HOUSE "INITIATION PARTY" 49
IV AN ADVENTUROUS MOUNTAIN DAY 69
V THE RETURN OF MARY BROOKS 86
VI HELEN ADAMS'S MISSION 106
VII ROBERTA "ARRIVES" 126
VIII THE GREATEST TOY-SHOP ON EARTH 143
IX A WEDDING AND A VISIT TO BOHEMIA 169
X TRYING FOR PARTS 189
XI A DARK HORSE DEFINED 211
XII CALLING ON ANNE CARTER 230
XIII GEORGIA'S AMETHYST PENDANT 250
XIV THE MOONSHINERS' BACON-ROAST 269
XV PLANS FOR A COOPERATIVE COMMENCEMENT 291
XVI A Hoop-Rolling and a Tragedy 308
XVII BITS OF COMMENCEMENT 325
XVIII THE GOING OUT OF 19-- 350
XIX "GOOD-BYE!" 366

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ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

The Stream of Girls Descended _Frontispiece_

"Here Are Some Perfectly Elegant Mushrooms" 76

"Oh, I Beg Your Pardon," 132

"I Do Care About Having Friends Like You," She Said 171

"Well, We've Found Our Shylock," He Said 224

The Girls Watched Her in Bewilderment 318

"Ladies, Behold the Preceptress of the Kankakee Academy" 373

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BETTY WALES, SENIOR